Boys Over Flowers

The cast from left to right: Kim Jun, Kim Beom, Lee Minho, Koo Hye-soen, Kim Hyun-joong




Synopsis

Jandi is a poor girl whose family runs a dry cleaning shop near the prestigious school for the affluent, Shinhwa school. One day, while delivering dry cleaning to that school, Jandi saved a student victimised by bullying from suicide and made the headlines of Korean news. In order to appease the public, Jandi was admitted into Shinhwa high school.


Jandi was just an outcast in the new school until she met the four richest spoilt boys nicknamed F4 (which stands for Flower 4). F4 is a notorious group that will make life miserable for those who retorts them. Jandi crosses path with the leader of the group when she defended her friend whom accidentally dropped ice-cream on his shoe. She was subjected to bully from the entire school after receiving a red card from F4. When the head strong Jandi could no longer tolerate the bullying, she confronted the leader, Junpyo. After that confrontation, Junpyo began to fall for her and hence begins the romance between Jandi and F4.


Cast

Koo Hye-seon as Geum Jandi
Lee Minho as Gu Junpyo
Kim Hyun-joong as Yoon Jihu
Kim Beom as So Yi Jung
Kim Jun as Sung Woo Bin




The Korean F4 behind the scene. It was winter when the show was shot. That is why the boys are "bubble wrapped". The show only wrapped shooting late 2008 and was released in Korea in January 2009 (not too sure whether it is December 2008 or January 2009). It was a hit in Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Thailand. The cast even flew over to Japan for promotional purposes. This show is worth watching as the scenery is breathtaking. The show was filmed in various locations namely New Caledonia, Macau, some ski range and all over Korea.




Lee Minho who played Gu Junpyo in the show. Junpyo is the heir of a conglomerate. He is spoilt and has a very bad temper. He is smart, good at everything he does and fluent in numerous languages but somehow he couldn't master the Korean language. However, beneath that egoistic surface, he is a loyal guy who only loves one girl. This is something that you can't find in real life; a good looking, rich, tall and loyal guy. He is not afraid to show his affection to his lover and the little things that he does really makes a girl feel pampered and loved. His portrayal of the role is convincing and you can really feel Junpyo's love for Jandi. Here Minho is looking dashing the Shinhwa school uniform. He is such an eye candy. In my opinion, he is the most good looking of the lot.




All 186 cm of Lee Minho. He is so tall. Look at those long legs. He really looks like a duke.


Some modeling shots of Lee Minho. He is a quite famous model in Korea modeling for Levi's, Dunkin Doughnuts, hand phones, cars and beer. You know a person is famous when they have an official Japanese website in addition to his official Korean website. It is said that his website crashed the moment it was launched because of the sudden surge in the massive amount of visitors. According to some websites, one side of Minho's leg has iron/steel rods in it because he was involved in a car accident back in 2006. He was bed ridden for six months and were to have the rods removed after the shooting of Boys Over Flowers wrapped. Ouch. Poor guy.





Just wanted to show an up close photo of his "curls". Only a person with his looks can pull off a hairstyle like that. In fact I think the hairstyle kind of suits him. Not the best shot though.


Kim Hyun-joong who plays Yoon Jihu in the show. The character that he portrays is a real gentleman. I like the character that he portrays but not him. I think he is very convincing in his role as a nice guy that girls love and a great musician (because he really knows how to play the piano and guitar). He is scarily fair for a guy. He is a member of the Korean band called SS501. Frankly speaking, I can't recognise him without his hair covering his face (the Jihu hairstyle).



Some other photos of Kim Hyun-joong. The Koreans say that he is handsome. I suppose that is the Korean taste. Anyway, I'm unsure whether his name is Kim Hyung-joon or Kim Hyun-joong. Some websites spell it as the first and others spell it as the second.

More shots of Kim Hyun-joong.





I think that Kim Hyun-joong resembles the winter Sonata guy, Bae Yoong jun.



Bae Yoong jun, the lead actor of Winter Sonata. See the resemblance? Anyway,the guy whom Kim Hyun-joong resembles, Bae yoong jun was nicknamed the "housewife killer" because he is the idol of housewives. I suppose that is the reason Kim Hyun-joong is a girl magnet.




This is Bae Yoong jun and not Kim Hyun-joong.

(Note: Bae Yoong Jun is not in the show. Just included his photo to show the resemblance between him and Kim Hyun-joong)



This story is based on the manga Hana Yori Dango. It can be considered a popular story for there are so many versions of TV series made based on it. There is the Taiwanese version (Meteor Garden) which made the group F4 shot to fame overnight, the Japanese version (Hana Yori Dango) and the latest to join the bandwagon is the Korean Version (Boys Over Flowers). Wonder when will the Hong Kong and English versions be made? Who will be cast for the F4 of the Hong Kong and English versions? I read that there might be a sequel to Boys Over Flowers.



This is my favourite series to date. It makes me feel like a pre-teen all over. I really envy the girl who has the unconditional love of two guys, Junpyo the loyal and romantic lover and Jihu the soulmate. I have to say the Koreans did a good job in delivering the story. It follows the manga closely and the actors have better acting skills. Not to mention that they are good looking and quite young. All of them are in their early twenties. Besides that, the songs in the show are nice too.


As crazy and fanatical as it might sound, I truly want to get hold of the DVD for Boys Over Flowers. I couldn't find it in the shops. Backward country. I missed the first part of the show as I didn't know it was aired. It is really depressing as the show is coming to an end and it is really agonizing waiting for two episodes to air per week. Haish (Junpyo's favourite phrase).